Google is launching their version of Sim City today, Google Building Maker. The tool lets you create buildings for Google Earth. Building Maker lets you pick any building and construct a 3D version of it using photos and building blocks provided by Google. Google says that buildings are relatively fast to construct using their tool, taking only a matter of minutes.
Building Maker runs within your web browser and connect with your Google Account so you can get credit for your building. You can also use Google SketchUp to edit or modify your creation.
When your building is finished, you submit it to Google, where it will be deposited in a giant 3D warehouse. If yours is the best version of the building, Google will add it to the 3D building layer in Google Earth. Google Building Maker, which is available in 14 languages, lets you make buildings in only 50 cities at the moment, but will be rolling out the feature to other cities in the future.
While Building Maker is definitely a fun tool, Google gets some benefit out of this. They are crowdsourcing building making to their users, in addition to doing this internally. Google is also crowdsourcing to help update Google Maps, letting users report changes to a particular location, destination or roads.
Wow, quite amazing how they’ve made it so easy to do
yes, we all make buildings and google sells ads on the side and makes profits. I think people are started to getting tired of making Google rich.Do you get anything in return?
I get a tracking cookie… do you get something different?
At least with Amazon’s mechanical turk you get paid. This is essentially the same thing, but no compensation.
Just goes to show how far Google’s arrogance has come; they’re so out of touch they think people actually like them enough to do their bitch-work for free.
I do. Maybe for once you could quit whinging about evil corporations becoming arrogant and think about how you’re making the service more useful to millions of users. It’s called community.
Or maybe Google could think how it can make others people work FREE for anybody to use, rather than exploiting people’s good will. If the people create it, they have the right to own it and use it how the see fit, in games, mapping apps, etc. That would help the community much more. The current way just ensures one products domination over others based on free work from the crowd.
Google’s definition of community: get tool-bags like Derry to give us content, and let us make all the money off of it.
isn’t that the essence of web 2.0?
If you don’t want to do it you don’t have to. It’s like PC users who give out about Mac’s and vice versa, if you don’t like them, don’t use them.
Do you want a Google t-shirt? I have a few extras…
I actually spent two hours today building some models using this new tool. I did it for fun, because the tool is actually amazing to use – you get lots of (admittedly kind of scary to know they have all of that) different aerial views, and the tool correctly maps the 3D model to the skin.
At least coming from a programmer, I totally dig the tool and appreciate the programming that went into creating it.
AutoDesk , you are going to have a big brother in your neighborhood !!
What AutoDesk has with Revit and Navisworks is a million years ahead of this toy that Google has provided. Google has provided a tool to model the exterior shell of a building. AutoDesk’s tool allow all the mechanical, piping, ducts, electrical, structural steel, etc. to be modeled out (a la BIM). This thing from Google is just makes Google Maps and Google Earth a little more fancy.
Dude,Autodesk missed the boat with Google Maps itself.Infact they had great mapping products in 90s itself like Autodesk World.Autodesk never brought their products to common people like Google did. Its 2009 now, even now AutoDesk has not waken up.At one time I used to work indirectly for Adesk and used to marvel at their products, Unfortunately its too late as Google has taken the throne!. Millions of people out there don’t really care for piping , structural steel drawing etc!.
Google will crush them too.
Like everything else that happens to be on their path, which is… a huge effing lot…
Great app/site!
But why Google don’t you show some love for Sweden when it comes things like this and other Google Maps/Earth releated things? Yeah I know that Streetview will come, but haven’t we’ve waited long enough.
again same XP/Mac only, no Linux version … tired of certain segment in Google refusing to make change in mind.
ur the 1 that have to change ur mind.. isnt that a hint??
no, I don’t follow advice from no-matter-how-many-lemmings-are-out-there
I have to agree. Wow.
But: “Building Maker is not available for Linux/mobile devices.”
This is quite a scam, in that buildings in the 3D Warehouse are property of Google; by using this building maker you’re essentially whoring yourself out to Google for free. Case in point: buildings in the 3D warehouse are not allowed to be used by any other “geo-mapping” application. See their terms and conditions.
When their algorithms fail, Google’s strategy is always to “crowdsource” or, in other words, exploit useless people with free time.
Seriously, WTF? If they want to crowdsource then let other companies use the data as well. Otherwise hire people do build your own damn buildings Google. You have BILLIONS of dollars. Stop trying to exploit everyone’s content. Like the above comment said, people are tired of making Google wealthy.
Useless people with free time? Ouch. Did you ever consider that creating a building can teach you a new skill (that can be applied elsewhere or kick off a new hobby — CAD anyone), or just be fun? I’d love to create a building if I had more time.
Yes, but wouldn’t it be even nicer if the “work” you did was public domain or otherwise freely re-usable by anyone?
Then an individual, non-profit or company could build off your creation to create something bigger and better.
The way it is now, your work becomes (C)opyright Google and is used by them in a product that they sell commercially (Google Earth Pro).
While you are right, and I don’t think they should limit the models to their own app; at the same time, it is the effort of people like us, that we see ourselves when we are using Google Earth.
If you are contributing one model, you are taking the benefits of countless others that others are providing. Google is paying for the platform, you are paying nothing to use it (except if you choose to contribute by adding your own model).
Bottom line is your simply helping Google become more of a monolopy than it already is. And you’re making Sergey Brin even more wealthy. Better to make models for yourself using countless other free 3d programs. If google allowed the models to be public domain then I wouldn’t mind. They always whine and bitch about how everyone should give them their content, but when it comes to opening up themselves Google throws up a massive STOP sign. Don’t be evil my ass.
Just in case anyone doubts this, here are Google’s Terms of Service for the 3D Warehouse:
http://sketchup...n/3dwh/tos.html
See clause 11.4: you may not … use or distribute Content obtained from Google Services in a mapping or geographic application or service.
Google’s pledge to keep data open is basically a whole lot of horse-shit. And now, even worse, they’re asking people to GIVE them data, so that they can keep it under lock.
While Google may benefit from this of course, I don’t see it as “whoring yourself out to Google” I see it as a way of contributing to the Google Earth community and the million of users that use it everyday, even with Google’s billions of dollars it would be a huge challenge to model all the buildings in the world, so outsourcing it to the community it’s great.
I’m tired of all the “Google it’s a monopoly and so evil with all those free stuff” arguments, seriously, it’s like you just came from a Microsoft/ATT/Apple meeting on how to kill google.
No, it’s like I came from the “Google should not be a hypocritical farce of a company” meeting, wherein it was discussed that if Google is going to crowd-source data, that data should be open. Period.
You mean people who have time to complain on web sites like TechCrunch?
I don’t see the problem. It’s not as if Google would force anybody to do this. Some people might enjoy building something with this app. Besides, Google Maps can be a great thing for a restaurant for example and if you can advertise your place better by helping Google to showcase it on Google Maps, it seems like a win-win situation to me.
You managed to write that article without mentioning SketchUp once.
I found that very interesting myself.
2nd paragraph, last sentence:
Sorry, missed it.
Now that I reread it, the article still doesn’t give the Sketchup people the credit they deserve for creating a very intuitive CAD, which is not easy and had been elusive for many companies for a long while.
So maybe a community can get together, develop something open source, and then pool money and host it and release it and let you search it and hire smart people and promote it to others and and subsidize it with ads and make analytics for the advertisers … OH WAIT THAT IS GOOGLE.
I don’t think Google Building Maker is a viable solution. I’m actually quite surprised that Google would employ such a low-tech approach to the problem.
One company that is years ahead of Google on this matter is called C3, a Swedish company owned by Saab. They can scan entire cities and then generate accurate 3D models. The process is 100% automatic. Their process even renders tree volumes accurately.
Here is a video of some of their 3D models:
http://www.yout...h?v=KmMmeghf8gA